Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series II: Forestry • Wood Industry • Agricultural Food Engineering • Vol. 4 (53) No. 2 - 2011

CONSERVATION BY DRYING OF PLUMS

WITH SOLAR ENERGY

A.L. MARIN1 Gh. BRĂTUCU1

Abstract: Dehydration is one of the most common methods for preserving

fruits, especially grapes and plums, vegetables and mushrooms. This technology
is one of the most natural methods of preservation. There is no need for
chemical treatment of food only of the energy to minimize the water content
of products. To reduce costs we suggest and justify the use of solar energy
and some relatively simple equipment, which in Romania can be efficient for
at least 6 months per year.

Key words: plum, drying, solar energy, conservation.

1. Introduction compounds present in the fruits, such as

A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree of the
genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The
subgenus is distinguished from other
subgenera (peaches, cherries, bird cherries
etc.) by a terminal bud in the shoots and by
the solitary side buds (not clustered), the
flowers in groups of one to five together on
short stems, and the fruit having a groove
running down one side and a smooth stone
(or pit).
Mature plum fruit may have a dusty-
white coating that gives them a glaucous
appearance and is easily rubbed off. This is
an epicuticular wax coating and is known
as "wax bloom". Dried plum fruits are
called dried plums or prunes, although
prunes are a distinct type of plum, and may
have pre-dated the fruits now commonly
known as plums [8].
Dried plums (or prunes) are also sweet and
juicy and contain several antioxidants. Plums
and prunes are known for their laxative effect.
This effect has been attributed to various
dietary fiber, sorbitol, and isatin. Prunes and
prune juice are often used to help regulate
the functioning of the digestive system. Dried
prune marketers in the United States have,
in recent years, begun marketing their product
as "dried plums". This is due to "prune"
having negative connotations connected with
elderly people suffering from constipation.
Dried, salted plums are used as a snack,
sometimes known as saladito or salao.
Various flavors of dried plum are available
at Chinese grocers and specialty stores
worldwide. They tend to be much drier
than the standard prune. Cream, Ginsing,
Spicy, and Salty are among the common
varieties. Licorice is generally used to
intensify the flavor of these plums and is
used to make salty plum drinks and
toppings for Shaved Ice or baobing [8].
2. Material and Method
Plums come in a wide variety of colors and
sizes. Some are much firmer-fleshed than

1
Dept. of Food and Tourism Engineering, Transilvania University of Braşov.
112 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series II • Vol. 4 (53) No. 2 - 2011
others and some have yellow, white, green
or red flesh, with equally varying skin color.
Plum cultivars in use today include:
• Damson, or Damask Plum.
• Greengage (Firm, green flesh and skin
even when ripe).
• Mirabelle (Dark yellow, predominantly
grown in northeast France).
For the production of prunes only brownie
plums are used (Prunus domestica L. ssp
domestica) as well as their derivatives:
Stanley, Amers, Węgierka, Dąbrowicka,
empresa, Oneida, Jojo, Top, Valjevka,
President and Damacha. Fruits of these
varieties have the characteristics necessary
for drying including a high sugar content and
relatively low water content. The fruit must
be healthy with no signs of rot, mechanical
damage or visible damage by insects, mites
or other pests. For example, for the
production of smoked prunes only drying
units are used, where plums can be dried and
smoked with smoke and hot air. Drying Unit
can not be higher than 3 meters. Fruits are
placed on trays by hand. They must be
arranged in such manner that the air and
smoke easily reach every part of them.
Depending on the size of the fruit, they are
• Satsuma plum (Firm red flesh with a
red skin).
• 'Victoria' (Yellow flesh with a red or
mottled skin).
• Yellow gage, or Golden plum (Similar
to Greengage, but yellow).
The top ten plum producers in 2009 were
the countries presented in Table 1:
Table 1
placed on trays in varying numbers of layers.
A layer can be thicker than 12 cm. Prunes
are dried and smoked using hot air and
smoke from hardwood which are supplied by
an oven placed under the tray. The mixture
of hot air and smoke is passing among the
trays and the fruit placed on them. For this
purpose gravity circulation of air and smoke
is used. Temperature in drying units is 45°C-
90°C. Temperature is highest at the bottom
of the drying unit and the lowest in the
middle of it because of the gravitational
circulation of air. The whole process of
drying and smoking lasts for 48 hours, but
duration may vary depending on fruit size,
temperature and drying facilities maintained
by the external atmospheric factors,
particularly temperature and humidity. Dried
fruits and smoked uniformly are gathered
from the trays and sorted [6].
Marin, A.L., et al.: Conservation by Drying of Plums with Solar Energy
Equipment scheme that can be achieved
drying by using solar energy is shown in
Figure 1. For solar energy recovery and its
use as energy source it is necessary to use
photovoltaic panels. Overall scheme of the
control panel is shown in Figure 2. The
control panel consists of photovoltaic panel,
battery, controller and connecting cables.
Fig. 1. Overall scheme of the dryer
Fig. 2. Overall scheme of the panel
3. Water Evaporation
Removing excess water from the fruit is
subjected to dehydration by evaporation
under the influence of temperature and air
movement. If the rate of air movement
exceeds 1 m/s, all wet surfaces that are in
the same air flow receive about the same
amount of heat, known as wet-heat
thermometer. During dehydration of fruits,
the water from cell juice surfaces and
evaporates due to internal diffusion. Rate
113
of heat transfer by convection and
evaporation rate is proportional to the
difference between air temperature and
considered surface, the difference between
dry and wet thermometer temperature. This
difference is called the wet thermometer
depression (WTD). However, a fruit area
that is exposed to dehydration is different
from a free water surface. This is because
the raw material subject to dehydration can
receive the heat by convection from the
grates that are placed, or by radiation from
the surrounding environment.
When using solar energy for drying
plums these will dry in the sun when
temperatures remain around 30 degrees
Celsius or higher and when there is good
air movement, even in the form of light
breeze. A single day will not be enough for
proper drying and fruit should be placed in
a location where they can be quickly taken
inside in case of rain [2].
Romania is in a geographical area with
good sun coverage, with an annual solar
flux between 1000 KWh/m2/year to 1300
kWh/m2/year. From this amount of energy
one can capture between 600 and 800
kWh/m2/year. The level of insolation is
determined by geographical location using
a country-specific sunshine map (Figure
3). This map divides our country into three
main areas of sunshine: Zone 0, Zone 1
and Zone 2, Zone 0 with the highest solar
radiation [1].
Fig. 3. Romanian solar map
114 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series II • Vol. 4 (53) No. 2 - 2011
For fresh plums, humidity is about
81.1%. Thus, in order to preserve the fruit
for a long time, dehydration should be
made until the humidity reaches values of
18-20% [6].
4. Results and Discussions
Among the internal factors that influence
dehydration’s first factor is the nature of
raw material, expressed by the chemical
composition and physical structure. Pre-
treatment of material, scalding or steaming
(blanching) causes dehydration to be faster
than in untreated ones because the first
case increases the permeability of cell
membranes. The degree of maturation,
expressed by dry matter content and
proportion of its main components, the
time from collection to dehydration and
storage conditions can be incorporated in
the group of natural factors.
The main external factors which influence
dehydration are form and degree of
fragmented material or piece size. It is
known that the dehydration speed of a
water-rich material and therefore drying
time, theoretically speaking, is inversely
proportional to the square of the thickness
of the pieces. A practical consequence of
this finding is shortened dehydration. In
case of drying with solar energy, the
exploitation of this type of energy requires
conversion of solar energy into electricity. It
is possible to simultaneously convert solar
energy into chemical energy and electricity
Fig. 4. The principle of the photovoltaic cell
by photo electrochemical conversion using
chemical reactions of charge transfer. This
conversion is currently under scrutiny [3].
A PV cell consists of two layers of silicon
semiconductors doped with other elements
to change their electrical properties. A layer
has more electrons so it has a negative
charge (N type) and the other has less (type
P) than naturally. When sunlight reaches the
photovoltaic cell, it has enough energy to
free electrons. The release near the junction
passes through it due to potential difference
and creates an electrical current [4].
The principle of the photovoltaic cell is
shown in Figure 4.
Advantages of PV technology are:
• do not need fuel;
• lack of wear;
• easy maintenance;
• robustness and high reliability;
• it is useful where network connection
is impossible or too expensive.
Energy produced by the photovoltaic
panels is used immediately or stored in
batteries.
Current disadvantages of such a system are:
• high cost;
• difficult to store large amounts of
electricity [5].
4.1. Overview of photovoltaic systems
Photovoltaic cells (PV) or solar cells are
semiconductors that convert sunlight into
continuously electricity. Groups of
photovoltaic cells are electrically configured
Marin, A.L., et al.: Conservation by Drying of Plums with Solar Energy
into modules or panels and are used to
charge the batteries in various applications
in telecommunications, rural electrification,
Fig. 5. Scheme of photovoltaic cell-junction P-N
5. Conclusions
• In the production of prunes only
brownie plums are used (Prunus domestica
L. ssp domestica) as well as their
derivatives: Stanley, Amers, Węgierka,
Dąbrowicka, Empresa, Oneida, Jojo, Top,
Valjevka, President and Damacha. Fruits
of these varieties have the characteristics
necessary for drying including a high sugar
content and relatively low water content.
• Removing excess water from the fruit
is subjected to dehydration by evaporation
under the influence of temperature and air
movement. If the rate of air movement
exceeds 1 m/s, all wet surfaces that are in
the same air flow receive about the same
amount of heat, known as wet-heat
thermometer.
• The rate of heat transfer by convection
and evaporation rate is proportional to the
difference between air temperature and
considered surface, the difference between
dry and wet thermometer temperature. This
difference is called the wet thermometer
depression (WTD).
• In case of drying with solar energy,
exploitation of this type of energy requires
conversion of solar energy into electricity.
It is possible to simultaneously convert
solar energy into chemical energy and
115
power supply etc. for domestic and industrial
systems, as can be seen in Figure 5 [7].
electricity by photo electrochemical
conversion using chemical reactions of
charge transfer.
Acknowledgement
This paper is supported by the Sectoral
Operational Programme Human Resources
Development (SOP HRD), financed from
the European Social Fund and by the
Romanian Government under the contract
number POSDRU/88/1.5/S/59321.
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